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Posted on 02/19/2018 5:45:57 PM PST by RightGeek

Angela Merkel on Monday tapped the popular female premier of Germany's tiny Saarland state to take over as secretary general of her conservative party, fuelling speculation the veteran chancellor is lining up her successor.

At a joint Berlin press conference, Merkel said she was "moved" that close confidante Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, 55, would take the reins from her right-hand man Peter Tauber at "a difficult time" for their Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party.

The surprise reshuffle comes after Tauber said at the weekend he was stepping down for health reasons, and with Merkel struggling to form a new government after a tricky general election last September.

The chancellor praised Kramp-Karrenbauer, known as AKK, as someone "who has experience and knows her own mind, whose work I have valued for years".

Both women were coy however about whether the move meant Merkel had effectively anointed AKK as her heir apparent.

"I would not give myself that label," Kramp-Karrenbauer told reporters. Merkel also refused to make predictions for the future, saying only she wanted to see the state premier "fully unfold her skills and capabilities in the new role".

Kramp-Karrenbauer, dubbed the "Merkel of Saarland" and "mini-Merkel" by German media, is expected to be formally appointed at a CDU congress on February 26.

(Excerpt) Read more at thelocal.de ...

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